The majority of contemporary modern institutions of secular law have their foundations in history. While with some of them we can fall back on recent history, others have a more than thousand-year-old existence, this being the case of betrothal. This institution emerged in ancient civilizations, yet its shape was tinged for a long time by the domination of Roman law in particular, which also incorporated in a later period certain elements of Greek law. In light of the fact that Roman law was, from the third decade of the fourth century after Christ, increasingly influenced by Christian conceptions, a number of attributions typical for canon law can be found in its contemporary form. The main goal of this article is to point out the legal-historical foundations of betrothal in Roman (partly German) and canon law and analyze their reflections and practical applications in Hungarian, Czechoslovakian and Slovak law. Particular attention is also paid to emphasizing the importance of this institution in historical as well as contemporary law and society.
On the threshold of a new historical period, after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, Slovak society became even more interested in marginalized social groups. One of them was the legally and socially ostracized group of illegitimate (“illegal”) children. The value-laden and intriguing debate from the legal point of view on the status of the illegitimate child led to gradual changes in Czechoslovak legislation and jurisprudence. Fundamental legal amendments got adopted to change the centuries-long degraded legal and social status of illegitimate children. They regulated social care, health care, guardianship, family matters, and especially the social and legal protection of illegitimate children. The law gradually granted a certain degree of protection to both illegitimate children and their mothers, even though their social status changed very slowly in the Slovak rural environment. The author presents the developing historical legal and social discourse and social and legal practice related to illegitimate children, which gradually led to the elimination of their unequal status compared to legitimate children.
The authors discuss the legal emancipation of the Slovak or Hungarian woman in family and property relations (as both these relations determine the status of each human individual) which took place in two stages; Firstly, it was while the first original medieval law, which was preserved even in the modern concept of the patriarchal family and subordinate position of women, was effective. Secondly, it was during the century when modern law was born, namely from 1848 to 1948, when women became independent and emancipated in both social and legal relations. The authors identify the key legal norms that helped to create and configure the mile-stones on the slow and long road to female emancipation and transformation of the social and legal awareness of Slovak society. The ambition of the authors is to point out the general conclusions about the status of Slovak woman, reached after reviewing the legal norms, court decisions and jurisprudence.
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